Humanitarian Corridors: beyond political gesture

Around 300 people have entered Italy from Lebanon via safe and
legal routes pioneered by faith groups. This pilot project holds great
potential as an innovative approach to the so-called ‘refugee crisis’.

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Events such as the horrific shipwreck of
3 October 2013 off the coast of Lampedusa are now commonplace in the
Mediterranean. With over 6,000 people reported to
have been rescued on 3 October 2016, a new approach is long overdue. This is
why a programme of safe and legal passage, already underway in Italy, is so
important. In pressing for an effective response to deaths at sea, Corridoi Umanitari – humanitarian corridors – appears to provide
a new way forward for Europe’s so-called ‘refugee crisis’.

Corridoi Umanitari

Humanitarian Corridors is the result of an ecumenical
collaboration between Catholics and Protestants. This includes Community of Sant
Egidio,
the Federation of
Protestant Churches in Italy (FCEI), and the Waldensian
and Methodist Churches. While many states are moving against European efforts to relocate people seeking
refuge, the Corridoi Umanitari programme strives to put a more human and humane
approach into action. It does so by facilitating the direct movement of people
from the Middle East and North Africa to Europe.

As a pilot initiative which began earlier this year, this
programme is the first of its kind in Europe. It aims to prevent border deaths
at sea by providing a safe flight to Italy, and it therefore also aims to
combat smuggling and trafficking networks. Specifically, the programme seeks to
support people in so called “vulnerable conditions” to enter Italy legally on
the Article 25 Schengen Limited Territorial
Validity (LTV) visa . This means that people are able to make a claim to
international protection once they have safely arrived to Europe, rather than making
dangerous journeys without visa authorisation in order to claim territorial
asylum.

The Italian government has agreed to support a total of 1,000
arrivals via this mechanism over two years. Italy appears keen to demonstrate
political leadership in this area, and recent indications suggest the programme
will be extended further. Indeed, the programme comes at a relatively low
price. The Humanitarian Corridoors programme is funded by the Waldensian Church
via the eight per thousand tax
system,
as well as by fundraising efforts. Hence, it does not present any costs to the
Italian government.

People are chosen to participate in the programme through visits
made directly by programme organisers to camps in Lebanon. There, interviews
are held with potential beneficiaries to assess whether their situation meets
one or more vulnerability criteria. These criteria include: (a) those who have
experienced conflict, warfare and persecution; (b) women, particularly pregnant
women and single mothers; (c) unaccompanied minors; (d) those who have been
identified in a first stage of assessment as prima facie refugees; and (e) those who
have serious medical needs that cannot be treated where they are.

Once programme organisers have identified a list of people who
qualify on one or more of these bases, the list is forwarded to the Italian
Embassy for approval. To date, around 300 people had entered Italy from Lebanon
via this route. It was recently reported at a Mediterranean Hope (FCEI) press
conference that another 100 are due to arrive on 20 October. Plans to extend the
project to Morocco and Ethiopia and to introduce the initiative to European
states beyond Italy are already underway.

A new way forward?

So, can Humanitarian Corridors provide a way forward from the
so-called refugee crisis? Two points are worth noting here. First, the
initiative is important because it broadens the understanding of who
counts as a person in a vulnerable situation. It does not rely on distinctions
that have been questioned by recent research such as those between
political and economic or between forced and voluntary migration.

Second, the initiative also deepens protection by
providing a safe and legal route for those seeking
safety in Europe, and by initiating support and integration measures
immediately on arrival. This is critical in order that international protection
measures are not diluted through the reduction
of rights in practice, and in order to mitigate against policies of externalised measures
of control that have become integral to European policies over recent
years.

The importance of this initiative is highlighted by a man I
spoke with from Syria, who arrived to Italy with his wife via this programme in
June 2016. He described his journey as “incomparable” with that of his brother,
whom travelled via the Balkan route to Turkey last year. Moreover, he explained
how his brother was surprised that when the couple arrived in Turin they had a
house, a flat key, and freedom to come and go. His brother spent four months in
a camp like a prison when he first came to Europe. “He was not dealt with as a
human being” my new amico (friend) tells me.

Beneficiaries of the scheme attend a press conference in Lampedusa on 3 October 2016 (Author photo).Beyond political gesture

Despite the importance of this programme, questions remain as to
the limited scope of this project. In particular, an issue emerges here about
the challenges of an initiative that does not involve legal duty on the part of
the state. While some legal opinion asserts that states should be
obliged
under international and European law to provide humanitarian visas for people
who request them, there does not seem to be indication to suggest that states
see any obligation to provide safe and legal routes. As such there is a risk
that the programme is reduced to a political gesture on the part of governments
that seek to present an image to the wider community that they are ‘doing their
bit’.

Moreover, there are also problems in the linkage of this
initiative to formal procedures of applying for asylum, especially where
existing visa frameworks remain unchallenged. While the definition of
vulnerability that the programme employs is important in expanding the
definition of international protection, it does not fully free itself from
existing categorisations of protection along with hierarchies embedded in the
provision of refugee status, subsidiary protection and temporary protection.
Critically, it does not go so far as to challenge the grossly unequal visa
policies that lead to the irregular movements to Europe in the first place.
Without this, there is a risk that the initiative could simply provide a soft
edge to an essentially brutal system.

Finally, there is also an issue here about civil society
organisations taking responsibility for the provision of protection needs in
place of the state. Professor Paolo Naso from Universita di Roma, Sapienza, who
is responsible for the programme, highlighted this at a press conference in
Lampedusa on 3 October 2016. He asked: “Is it only by chance that the only real
experiment [in safe and legal routes] comes from two small independent churches
and not from authorities or big institutions?”

As a pilot project, Corridoi Umanitari holds great potential as
an innovative approach to the so-called ‘refugee crisis’. It also needs further
development in order that it is not reduced to political gesture, and in order
that the safe and legal routes it opens up are part of a wider transformation
of the conditions under which border deaths so frequently occur.

Yet the significance of Humanitarian Corridors is readily
evident on the southern Italian island of Lampedusa. Here, 3 October is a
head-on confrontation with the realities of increasing border deaths; tragedies
which local residents have now faced for many years. Each year commemoration
events are organised by the group Comitato Tre Ottobre, involving survivors
of the 3 October shipwreck, family members of the deceased, NGOs and the local
community at large.

Survivors and officials board boats in preparation for the 3 October memorial at sea (Author provided).While 3 October is an event that brings the survivors to the
fore, it is haunted by those that are not present. This not only includes those
who died on the journey, but also those who cannot join the event as their
status does not permit legal travel. Let’s not forget the many who are
immediately detained on being rescued at sea, as well as those who are deported
from European territories such as the most recent targets of such policies: people returned to Afghanistan.

Indeed,
it is not only the tragedy of border deaths, but also the criminalisation of
migration that needs to stop. Humanitarian Corridoors present one partial, yet
nevertheless very important, step in this direction.

A
shorter version of this article was published in the Conversation on 5 October
2016.

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